


Together an Atom

by CupcakeOfAwesomeness



Category: Original Work
Genre: I'll be adding tags as I go, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Universe, Slow Burn, Superheroes, Swearing, and maybe Alyssa, love you guys, probably only Hiria will read this XD, uhhh yeah this is a fanfiction for my original novel that's not written yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2019-09-13 21:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16899954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CupcakeOfAwesomeness/pseuds/CupcakeOfAwesomeness
Summary: You might think their only similarity was their alliterative names, and you would be right at first. But this story is about more than just two acquaintances. This is a tale of fate and love intermingling, a coincidence that creates a relationship with such a strong bond that it could never be broken. This is the story of two boys who, together, form an atom.





	1. Like Waitress, Except Not at All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reader is introduced to two boys, who are mere acquaintances. Setting up a bit of their personalities and their contrast.

This story begins with two very different boys. Their names were Joshua Justice Jr. and Cody Chakrabarti. Josh was a blond, white boy, with a winning smile, seductively messy hair, and an unexpectedly hard-working attitude. Cody was a raven-haired Indian boy—not a Native American, but an _actual_ Indian, from the _actual_ _country of India,_ as he was quick to remind people—with an intelligence beyond his years, acidic wit, and a baby face that he was seemingly cursed with. Yes, you might think their only similarity was their alliterative names and you would not be wrong—until their lives were changed forever.

Josh worked as a waiter at a small diner, near the centre of the city. He always came into work with a smile and a readiness to serve. He was, without a doubt, the best waiter the establishment ever had the blessing of hiring. He had memorized the usual orders of several regulars and would learn their names, engaging in polite and cheerful conversation, earning the love and respect of any customer who had the pleasure of entering.

Cody came into this exact diner every morning before work and every evening afterwards. He always sat in the same booth, ordered the same things, and never seemed in a particularly good mood. Smiles were rare, but Josh had managed to pry a few out of him, albeit always the smallest of smirks. Despite this ostensibly unfriendly demeanor, he was Josh's favourite regular. They were around the same age and had pleasant conversations every day, without fail.

“Good morning, Cody!” Josh practically sang as the bell above the door cued the boy's entrance. He turned from where he had been leaning on the counter talking to the chef. “Coffee?”

“Please.” Cody barely glanced Josh's way and he headed to  _his_ booth—the second last from the door, along the long window, so he could mindlessly watch the traffic while he was lost in his thoughts.

Josh smiled fondly before heading back into the kitchen. It was a slow morning, but he supposed that Sundays would do that to a diner; with so many people either at a church service, sleeping in, or at work, not many had time to drop by for breakfast. Cody, though... Cody was the only truly constant person Josh knew. He smiled to himself as he carefully brewed the coffee. Consistency was comforting.

“Here you go!” Josh said, as he approached the only occupied booth. “One coffee for my favourite customer.”

Cody raised an eyebrow as he took a sip. “Am I really your favourite?”

“Of course,” Josh said, leaning casually against the booth. He laughed. “Who else can look like an angry toddler while bitching about his boss?”

Cody's eyes focused on his mug irritatedly, which he held just under his nose to hide his embarrassment. “I do _not_ have a baby face.”

“You kinda _do_ ,” Josh teased. “But don't worry—I mean, apparently the girls are into it.”

Cody let his head hit the table. “Stoooop!”

Josh rolled his eyes with a chuckle. He ruffled Cody's hair, saying, “Sorry, I guess it's the big brother instinct in me. I'll leave you alone.”

Cody swatted away his hand and hid his face behind his mug again, eyebrows furrowed angrily. Josh walked over to the register, where his co-worker, Bella, sat.

“Leave the poor boy alone,” Bella said, in her faintly Australian accent, arms crossed. “Maybe he's young and sleeps around, but he's seventeen! Let him have his fun.” She waved her hand nonchalantly. “Besides, don't think I've forgotten about you when you first started here. Sixteen and flirting with every boy you saw.”

A blush rose in Josh’s cheeks. “Yeah, and for nothing! At least _he’s_ getting some action—I couldn’t even get a date.”

“Least we got the homophobes out,” Bella said with an angry huff, blowing her hair out of her face. “If one more person had spout some shit about you going to hell, I was gonna _kill_.”

“Ha, I’d’ve paid to see that,” Josh laughed. “Not that I doubt you could, but I just wanna see a bigot get punched.”

They laughed together, continuing to chat amiably, until Cody approached the register, carrying his empty mug and rifling through his wallet. He placed the mug on the counter and Josh glanced over to the table, which has been meticulously wiped clean.

“Aw, Cody, you didn’t have to—”

“Stop,” Cody huffed, slapping a five dollar bill on the counter, which Bella snatched, quickly swapping for change. “It’s really nothing. You guys do enough for me every day. The least I can do is clean up after myself.”

Josh smiled. “Well, thanks, Cody. Enjoy your day at work.”

“See you tonight,” Cody said, giving a quick wave as he headed out the door.

“Ah, yes, the evening slice of pie,” Josh said with a fondly exasperated sigh. “I feel like I'm in Waitress. Except I'm not pregnant. Or cheating on my husband with my doctor. Or married. Or a woman. Or—”

“So, not at all like Waitress, then?”

“Shut up, Bella!”

The older girl laughed and ruffled Josh's hair affectionately. “All right, well, come on. We should get cooking for the after-church lunch rush.”

* * *

Cody groaned as his phone rang on the way to the diner. He hung up as soon as he saw the name on screen. _Girl #42: Andrea_. Did she not understand what the term ‘one-night stand’ meant?

Part of him felt like he shouldn't do this anymore. He had only officially dated one girl and that was in seventh grade. Carmen Crow—they had a messy break-up and then she had set his backpack on fire. She was lucky he couldn't prove it was her. _He_ was lucky he had ended their relationship when he had. She was definitely a psycho.

In ninth grade, he started having sex. Despite what his parents thought, grade nine was where all the illegal shit happened. The biggest parties he had ever been to happened during that year—filled with red solo cups and the stench of weed and making out in public and making love in private. Since then, he had started having sex with girls every so often, which slowly began progressing to every month, which turned into every two weeks, which, currently, happened once or twice a week. He was a mess and he knew it.

This wasn't what he really wanted. He wanted to settle down. Not that he didn't enjoy the sex, of course he found immense pleasure in it, but... He wanted a real girlfriend, who would become his fianceé, and then become his wife. He just wanted to be in  _love_.

However... he had gained a _reputation_. He was a boy you could go to for sex once or twice, someone to give you a bit of pleasure for an hour or so and then leave. Most of the 47 Girl contacts in his phone never contacted him again, leaving only a name on his screen, just in case. Then there were the few like Andrea, who he was  _not at all into_ , but pursued him relentlessly. Most he slept with didn’t even give him a number. He doubted he'd ever find a girl to love him.

He harshly pushed the diner door open, the familiar bell's ring giving him a comforting feeling. The comfort left him as soon as it came when he saw how packed the small building was. Josh didn't even notice him enter and he rushed around to fulfill orders. Cody's booth was taken by a family with three children, including a screaming baby, and he nearly left. But then the girl at the register—Bella, he thought, though she wasn't as familiar as Josh—noticed him and smiled, gesturing him over.

“Cody!” she greeted. “Sorry about the crowd—apparently, there's some movie being filmed down the street, so the whole crew is here.” She sighed. “I know your booth was taken, but we didn't have anywhere else to put them. If you want, we have a back room where Josh and I eat sometimes. He'll be on break in, like, five minutes.” Seeing the hesitation on his face, she quickly added, “You don't have to! It's that or you can sit up at the counter here.”

“I guess I'll eat in the back room, if you're sure it's okay,” Cody said slowly. He didn't love the idea of being up at the counter, squished between people he didn't even know.

“Oh, yeah, it's more than okay! You're practically part of the staff,” Bella laughed. “In the best way possible, of course.”

She led him around the counter, into the kitchen, and then took a sharp right, swinging open the door into a room, barely bigger than a walk-in closet. A well-worn and sunken couch faced the wall where a small, box-like TV sat on the floor. A few crushed pop cans and empty chip bags were scattered around. But, the carpet was soft and the pillows were plump, and with the dim artificial lighting, it gave the room a homey feel. He plopped down on the couch, sinking further into the cushions than he had anticipated.

“I'll grab your pie in a sec!” Bella called back, as she rushed out of the room to respond to the incessant ringing of the bell by the cash register. “I'll be quick as I can!”

Cody wiggled further back into the corner of the sofa, browsing through his phone. His sister had sent him a chat message through instagram, asking when he'd be able to visit, and his boss had sent him an email about hiring him again for next summer's internship. Another call from Andrea came through and he blocked her number. After replying to his boss— _Yes, I would love to come back again next summer! Shall we finish this summer first?_ —and his sister— _Nadia, I'll come back during winter break, I promise_ —he spent another ten or so minutes mindlessly scrolling through instagram before Josh entered, out of breath and holding a slice of apple pie.

“One slice of apple pie for my—” Josh paused to wheeze in pain “— _favourite_ customer.” As soon as Cody had lightly taken the plate from him, he collapsed onto the ground. Cody leaned forward in shock, but then Josh said, in a muffled voice, “Remind me never to serve film crews again.”

Cody snorted.

“Ha!” Josh lifted his head tiredly, grinning triumphantly. “You laughed!”

“You're funny sometimes,” Cody said, jamming his fork into his mouth.

“Ha _ha_!”

Josh was looking a bit too smug, so Cody added, mouth still full and twirling his fork for emphasis, “On very rare occasions.”

“It's not my fault you have no sense of humour,” Josh said in a singsong, untying his apron and flinging it onto a hook on the wall.

“I think you're the one with a bad sense of humour,” Cody retorted. “That was seriously not funny.”

“You laughed.”

Cody's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. “I—” _It was hard to refute the truth._ “I _snorted_.”

“Like there's a difference with you?” Josh flopped onto the opposite end of the couch, grinning widely. “Whatever. It's better to have a bad sense of humour than none at all!”

“I _have_ a sense of humour,” Cody insisted. “You're just _not funny_.”

“Mmhmm,” Josh hummed, wiggling his eyebrows. “You keep telling yourself that.”

Cody rolled his eyes and shoved another forkful of pie into his mouth.

Josh fished around underneath him—Cody ashamed to admit he first thought that the boy was itching his butt—and pulled out a remote control triumphantly. He began to flip through tv channels absentmindedly, pausing every so often on a show that caught his fancy, but immediately flipping away as soon as a commercial started. Josh was seemingly never satisfied with any channel, yet wouldn’t stick with one long enough to really tell. The constantly switching screen was slowly causing Cody to lose his mind.

“Oh my gosh, dude,” Cody finally said, putting aside his now-empty plate and grappling for the remote. “Stop changing channels every two seconds!”

“Hey!” Josh laughed, reaching his arm away. “Is this _your_ diner?”

“Is it _yours_?” Cody shot back, suppressing a smirk. “Just pick a fucking channel and stick with it!”

“ _Fine_!” Josh laughed, throwing the remote on the ground. “Didn’t think you’d get so worked up over it.”

“I didn’t think you’d get so worked up over a couple commercials.”

“Look, if I could afford to have Netflix here, I would,” Josh said. “Why watch ads when you don’t have to?”

“Why miss a show because of an ad?” Cody stood up as he spoke, glancing at his watch. “I should probably get going, so you can go back to your incessant channel surfing or whatever.”

“See you tomorrow!” Josh called, giving the boy a wave.

Cody exited the diner, already anticipating his coffee the next morning, with no wonderments of his life changing forever in the near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate slow burn omg just kiss already but they won't :'(((( it'll be worth it though probably so y'know please keep reading once the next chapter comes out!!! Thanks friendos! ~Jayce


	2. Lives Changed in a Flash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the aforementioned life-changing event occurs.

It wasn’t until two weeks later that their aforementioned life-changing event would transpire. There was no warning. Life had been perfectly normal; Cody still came in every morning and evening, Josh and Bella were still the ones who served him, they had casual chats, Cody would occasionally be accompanied by a _lady friend_ , and they never saw it coming.

It was in the evening, during a torrential downpour. Cody has arrived later than usual, drenched from the rain and obviously stressed. For the first time since he had started regularly visiting the diner, he ordered more than just a slice of pie.

“Pie,” he had said grouchily upon entering, a scowl on his face. Then, on his way to sit down, he paused and turned to Josh, who was almost in the kitchen. “Also, a coffee. And ice cream. Maybe fries too.”

Josh raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He returned with a tray of food and set it in front of the boy. “You okay, buddy?”

Cody flinched at the term of endearment, but nodded stoically. Josh folded his arms with an unamused expression and Cody sighed in resignation. “Fine, whatever. Just work stuff. It’s no big deal.”

Josh eyed the food again and said, “No big deal, huh?” Cody didn’t reply, he just dipped a fry into his ice cream and popped it into his mouth, scrolling through his phone with that ever-present scowl. Josh sighed, and added, “This is on the house, by the way. I figured you earned it, coming here every day, giving us parts of your hard-earned income. Seemed like you could use it tonight anyway.”

This evidently struck a chord with Cody because, after a moment of being lost in a stupor, he said, “Josh... you wanna sit with me?”

Josh stopped. There were pros and cons, as there was with everything. He was still at work, but there was no one else in the diner this late. Even Bella had left a couple hours ago. The only other one was the chef, who had grumbled about it being nearly closing time when Josh had told him Cody’s order. No one else would come in this late and he would have nothing better to do. He turned around to face Cody.

“All right.”

He untied his apron, hung it on a coat hanger, and slid across from Cody. By the look on Cody’s face, he was surprised that Josh had agreed. Josh merely smiled and swiped a fry.

“ _Hey_ —”

“If I’m sitting with you _and_ giving you free food, you owe me at least _one_ fry,” Josh said with a goofy grin. Cody rolled his eyes—which seemed to be an often occurrence in the presence of Josh—and rotated his container of fries so it was easier for them both to grab it. Josh smiled wider. “Aw thanks!”

Another eye roll and a mumbled, “Whatever.”

“So.” Josh looked across the table intently. “What’s up with your job?”

“Oh.” Cody swirled a fry in his ice cream uncomfortably. “Well... my boss was really impressed with me ever since I started interning there, but...” Cody took an angry bite of pie. “He told me tonight that I need to ‘ _step it up_ ,’ whatever _that_ means, and— _pouring salt in my fucking wound!_ —he promotes this _slut_ that everyone _knows_ he’s been sleeping with and who _sucks_ at her job and _anyone else deserves that promotion except her!_ ” Cody let out a frustrated huff. “I’m just bitter and needed to stress eat, y’know?”

“That fucking sucks,” Josh agreed, taking another fry, “I’m sorry, man.”

Cody shrugged. “Really it’s whatever. But...” He blew the steam away from his coffee and took a cautious sip. “Thanks for letting me... air out my grievances or whatever.”

“Hey, anytime,” Josh said, smiling.

“Do... _you_ have anything to, uh, bitch about?” Cody asked hesitantly, after a few minutes of silence. “You don't have to! Obviously. But I'd... I'd listen.”

Josh tilted his head, still smiling fondly. “Life’s pretty good! My family's full of assholes, but I'm used to that. Oh, but my cousin, Cynthia, who also hates my parents and the majority of our family as a whole, has these three-year-old twins and they call me Uncle Josh, which makes me really happy, and I meet her and her famjam every month for brunch, so that's fun. Oh, and I'm starting uni this fall, so that's exciting! I'll be on campus, so I can finally move out!” He raised his hands and looked towards the ceiling, praising the great University Gods that had created the glorious invention known as dorm rooms. “Oh! And I got tickets to this hockey game, which is pretty cool!”

Cody blinked at him. “Well... you just did the exact opposite of what I did.” Josh laughed and Cody added, “That's good, I suppose. Your life doesn't suck as much as mine.”

“Pfft, did you miss the whole _'family of assholes’_ part?” Josh snorted. “My parents are the worst, _whitest_ people you'll ever meet. They're racist, sexist, islamophobic, homophobic...” He ticked the discrimination off on his fingers, his face particularly souring at the homophobia. “They suck.” He paused. “My siblings are all right—annoying as _fuck_ , but less asshole-ish compared to my parents.”

Thunder echoed loudly, causing the boys to jump. Lightning lit up the sky soon after.

Josh chuckled nervously. “That sounded close.” He glanced at Cody. “What's the way to figure out how far away it is again?”

“Count the seconds between the thunderclap and lightning strike,” Cody said, staring at the dreary city street. “Every three seconds depicts one kilometer of distance. So that last strike was around, like... four kilometers away?”

Josh was fidgeting in his seat.

“I wasn't counting though, it could've been further away,” Cody added, trying to sound reassuring.

Josh's leg was bouncing as if there was no tomorrow. “It'll be all good,” he said finally, loudly, more to himself than the other. “It'll be fine. It's just a bit of lightning. Thunder and lightning aren't so frightening...”

Another bright flash of lightning and Cody could see Josh mouthing numbers. Thunder struck and Josh looked back to Cody. _Three km._ That was uncomfortably close, Cody could acquiesce.

“I'm not a fan of storms,” Josh admitted, looking smaller than Cody had ever seen him. His tone sounded so... ashamed.

“Yeah, they're... loud,” Cody said awkwardly.

Josh chuckled. “It's okay if you like them, you don't need to pity me.”

“I'm not _pitying_ you,” Cody said, “but you're right, I do think storms are pretty cool. I mean—” He waved out the window vaguely “—it’s just cool to see those bolts of lightning and hear thunder booming and rain pouring and—” He smiled. “I don't know, I just really like it.”

Josh smiled too; it was nice to see Cody smiling about something, since it was such a rare sight. He stole another fry.

“But don’t get me wrong,” Cody continued, not seeming to notice how Josh was sneaking some forkfuls of his pie, “I get how they’re intimidating. But it’s like... how some people are scared of spiders? Like, I get it, and I sympathize, but I’m not afraid, y’know?”

“Yeah,” Josh agreed, “don’t worry, I get it.”

He smiled until there was another boom of thunder and he jumped, nearly falling off of the booth as he slid away from the window. Cody, in an attempt to calm Josh, pushed his fries further towards him. He was given a shaky smile in return. Cody took another bite of pie.

_CRACK!_

They were plunged into darkness and now Josh was screaming. Evidently, he didn't like the dark either. Cody blinked a couple times, letting his eyes adjust, then reached his hand across the table to tap Josh's. The boy yelped again, but seemed to calm slightly at the touch.

“The lightning must've knocked out a power line somewhere,” Cody said gently. “We're okay.”

Josh nodded, swallowing nervously.

“Here—” Cody pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. “You okay?”

“I have mild nyctophobia, so...” Josh was physically shivering. “This is actually one of the reasons I'm so paranoid around storms...” He let out a sour laugh. “Stupid, I know.”

“It's not stupid,” Cody chastised him, tutting like his mother so often did. “Fear isn't stupid. Not always _rational_ , but _not_ stupid. It's natural.”

“You're pretty wise for seventeen,” Josh said, still trying to calm himself down.

Cody shrugged. “Skipped two grades for a reason, man.”

A deafening crash from the kitchen caught them off guard.

“Don?” Josh called, fearfully. He was under the impression that the chef had left an hour prior. “Is that you?”

The next noise was an inhuman snarl and both boys looked at each other on horror, knowing it was no cook making the disturbances. Cody hesitantly shone his phone light towards the swinging kitchen doors. They were moving slightly, besides that, there were no signs of life. Cody stood up, quietly inching towards the doors, but Josh grabbed his arm in terror.

“Don't!” he whispered frightfully. “We don't know what's in there!”

“But—”

“Leave this stuff to the superheroes, Cody,” Josh said. “Our country's not called _The Island of Superheroes_ for fun.”

Suddenly, a huge monstrous rock creature was thrown through the wall of the kitchen, landing across the room from the boys. They both screamed and Josh instinctively grabbed Cody's hand.

“Oh dear, sorry, boys,” a voice from the kitchen boomed, in an authoritative and apologetic tone.

Out of the crumbling hole in the wall separating the kitchen and main diner, a superhero stood with hands on his hips. He was smiling and confident, wearing a bright costume, complete with a cape. Redheaded, muscular, and tall—the acclaimed hero was a sight to behold.

“Oh my gosh,” Josh gasped. “Power Man!”

“Yes, indeed!” the hero said, with a winning grin. “Now, you two need to vacate the premises, I'm afraid, lest you get injured by Dwayne Johnson over here.”

“ **MY NAME IS NOT DWAYNE!** ” the rock creature shrieked. “ **IT IS BOULDERMAN!** ”

“Eh, Dwayne's better,” Power Man said with a shrug.

Then he flew towards the monster, punching its chest—impressively, Dwayne “Boulderman” Johnson stood firm. Not many could withstand a hit from a superhero with super strength.

“Come on,” Cody said, tugging at Josh's hand, with their fingers intertwined. “We need to get out of here.”

“Right,” Josh said, obviously in awe of his idol being a mere few feet from him.

Of course, the fact that there was also a potentially indestructible rock monster also a few feet from him encouraged him to escape out of the door with Cody.

The two boys watched the fight as they backed away from the small building. Neither could claim to be bored by the brawl—it wasn't every day you witnessed superhuman combat in first person, even rarer to be this close to the action. They stood in the middle of the street, still absentmindedly holding hands, staring through the windows as Power Man finally managed to knock a few rocks off of Boulderman's towering figure. This naturally angered the villain more than he already had been and the fight escalated.

A boom of thunder woke them from their trance. Josh began to count nervously, but before he had even gotten to _one one thousand_ , a bolt of light erupted from the clouds above them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _intéressant_


	3. Hospitalization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow I'm back okay

Cody jolted upright.

“Oh, Mr. Chakrabarti,” a voice greeted him gently. “Glad to see you're awake.”

Cody glanced to his left and saw a slim, blonde nurse—doctor?—examining a small clipboard in her hands. She smiled at him and he felt calmer.

“My name is Dr. Armstrong,” she said, offering her hand for him to shake, which he did. _Doctor, then_.

He examined the rest of the room and recognized it as The Island’s children's hospital. There were two beds in the room, one he was sitting in and another on his right, where Josh slept peacefully. At first, he wondered why they were in the _children's_ hospital, then again, he was still underage. Josh wasn't, but he was only nineteen, barely of age, so he supposed it didn't really matter. He squinted as he tried to remember the reason they were in the hospital at all.

“What happened?” he asked, more to himself than the doctor, digging through his brain, but she answered anyway.

“You two were struck by lightning in the storm last night,” she explained seriously. “It was witnessed by Power Man—who brought you two in, by the by—and it's a miracle you survived.”

_Shit._

“But, wait, I feel totally fine,” Cody said, rolling his shoulder. There were no aches, no pain—not a single indicator of any trauma.

“That's the thing!” Dr. Armstrong said excitedly. “You two retained _no_ injuries! It's—it’s physically _impossible_!” She coughed and straightened up. “I'm going to need to run several tests. But I'll wait until you're both awake. Coffee?”

“Uh.” Cody was still processing. “Sure.”

Dr. Armstrong grinned and left the room, with a promise to return “in just a mo’!”

She was nice, maybe a bit too enthusiastic about two teenagers being struck by lightning, but Cody decided that he liked her. Not, like, _like_ -liked, or even _‘I’d tap that_ ’ liked, just... she was kind and calming and motherly in a way and overall enjoyable to be around. And he’d only known her for a few minutes, sure, but out of all the doctors he’d met in his life, she was the nicest.

She was back shortly, as promised, holding two coffees, handing one off to Cody. He graciously thanked her, realizing how cold his hands had been as he gripped the warm paper cup. He almost hadn’t noticed how a man he had never seen before entered the room behind her.

The man held out his hand, grinning at Cody. Cody flinched at the strength of the man’s grip. “Hello, I’m Jackson Armstrong. I just had to talk with my wife about some of the legal ramifications presented due to the events of last night.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “There may be the possibility of a lawsuit and no one wants that.”

Dr. Armstrong nodded in agreement. “No one,” she echoed, resting a hand fondly on her husband’s rather beefy arm. “Oh, not for either of you two, don’t worry,” she reassured Cody quickly when she saw the worry etched on his face. “That little diner you two were at was, well, destroyed by that miscreant, Boulderman.” She sighed. “From your records, I can see that Mr. Justice worked there. It’s a tragedy, really...”

“Yeah...” Cody said despondently. He hadn’t quite realized how much that diner meant to him until now, but he really was devastated about it being gone. “So, what’re they gonna do? _Sue_ the supervillain?”

“In theory, yes,” Jackson said. Cody had  _not_ expected that response to his joke. “Of course, there are certain laws in place that may circumvent that, but that’s what I’m here to find out!” He clapped his hands together. “Ella, honey, could we talk in the hallway for a sec?”

Dr. Armstrong nodded cheerfully, with another assurance that she would return in “un but a mo!” (Which Cody wasn’t entirely sure was proper French  _or_ English, but he dismissed it.) His head was still blurred and foggy and he couldn’t quite pick out the thoughts he wanted to, with so many questions swimming through the pool that was his mind.

A rustling to his right snapped him from his trance and he smiled in relief as he saw Josh coming to.

“ _Cody_ ...?” Josh asked blearily. He rolled over and groaned. “What happened?” He rubs his eyes and glances between them. Suddenly, his eyes snap open and he bolts upright, spluttering, “Did— _did we_ —?!” Before Cody could ask what he meant, Josh was staring around the room and his posture both relaxed and immediately tensed back up. “This isn’t my—where are we?”

“ISCH.” At Josh’s blank stare, he amended, “The Island of Superheroes Children’s Hospital. Come on, man, get with the acronyms.”

Josh’s eyebrows furrowed. “Hospital...?”

Cody nodded. “Dr. Armstrong said that we were struck by lightning last night.”

“ _What?_ ”

Dr. Armstrong poked her head back into the room at Josh’s shout and she smiled widely. “Oh, Mr. Justice! You’re awake!” She quickly scuttled over and shook his hand. “I’m Dr. Armstrong and I—”

“Ella,” Jackson interrupted, walking swiftly after his wife, “I need—”

“ _Power Man?_ ” Josh asked incredulously.

“ _What_?” Jackson’s eyes went wide. “ _Who_ do you think I am?”

“Oh,” Josh mumbled, his face going red, “I thought—I heard your voice first and it sounded like—plus the red hair and—” He buried his head in his hands. “I’m sorry, I’m tired.”

“It’s quite all right, son,” Jackson said, with a shaky smile and laugh. “I mean, as a lawyer, I do try to deliver justice, but I wouldn’t call myself Power Man.”

“Of course,” Josh said, with an embarrassed chuckle. “I'm probably just still out of it.”

“I'm going to need to run some tests on you boys,” Dr. Armstrong said, with an apologetic smile as she began to bustle around the room, gathering up supplies.

Her husband seemed insistent on talking with her privately, but he said nothing more, leaning against the wall nonchalantly and watching her. Cody tensed up when he saw the doctor picking up several needles. Josh frowned when he started to hyperventilate.

“Uh, Dr. Armstrong?”

She turned to face them at Josh's hesitant call and immediately was at Cody's side when she noticed his panic. “What's wrong, honey?”

“I-I—” Cody was still staring wide-eyed at where the tray of medical instruments, including the needles, lay. “Needles—I—I can't—”

“Oh, Cody, I'm sorry,” Dr. Armstrong sympathized sorrowfully, “but I do need to draw some blood.” She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It'll only be a pinch and it'll only take a minute. You can even get a lollipop after if you want,” she added with a teasing smile.

It was unnatural to see Cody so unnerved. He always seemed so stoic and fearless when Josh saw him; he supposed that everyone was scared of something. Cody was practically cowering in his bed, wrenching his arm away from the doctor. His and Josh’s eyes met and Josh—very cautiously—reached out his hand. The younger boy’s eyes widened, yet after only a moment’s hesitation, he grasped the outstretched palm in gratitude.

Dr. Armstrong smiled, quickly using an alcohol swab to clean Cody’s inner elbow, readying him for an IV. She privately thought that they were lucky to be hospitalized along with a friend, but said nothing, simply finding the boy’s vein and puncturing his arm as gently as she could. He visibly winced and Josh squeezed his hand tighter. Dr. Armstrong moved over to Josh, pulling out another alcohol swab for his arm.

“You two will need to stay here for a few days and, depending on what the results say, might possibly need to come in for more testing later,” the doctor said, as she finished with Josh’s IV. “We’ve already contacted your families and they will visit you as soon as they can.”

“Thank you, Dr. Armstrong,” Josh said.

“Of course,” she said cheerfully, gathering up her supplies and checking on a couple monitors. Before she followed her husband from the room, she turned back toward them. “Oh, and boys?” She handed them each a lollipop with a wink. “You’ve been wonderful patients.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
